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R A T I I 

ON AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 






JULY 3, 1847. 




X0G£THS:R TlflTH THE 

EULOGY 

tJPON 

I GENERAL THOMAS L. HAMER, I 

PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 

GENEEAL ASSEMBLY OF OHIO, 

AT COIiUMBUS, JANUARY 18, 1847. 



BY RUFUS P. SPALDING. 



dm 



AKROI7, OHIO. 
H. CANFIELD, PRINTER, 

1847. 






RATIO 



ON THK CAUSES WHICH LED TO OUR 



',S 



?r¥ 



NATION 



NBEPENIIENCE 



AND THE TRUE MEANS FOR PRESERVING THE SAME, 



DELIVERED AT 



AKRON, OHIO, JULY 3, 1847. 



Y RUFUS P. SPALDING 



PRINTED BY H. CANFIELD. 



1847 



Dear Fir :— 

The " Committee of Arrangements," in behalf of the Mechanics 
and Citizens of Akron, beg leave to tender to you their grateful acknow- 
ledgements for the very able Oration delivered by you on occasion of 
their late celebration onjhe third of July. They furthermore solicit a 
copy for publication. 

J. C. BERRY, Pres'L 
H. G. Allen, SecVy. 
B. P. SPALDING, Esq. 
Akron, July 13, 1847, 






OR AT 10 



Fellow Citizens : — 

There has been a wonderful chringe in the condition df 
civilized man since the memorable document, just now read in your 
hearing, was promulgated to the world. His conceptions ot the 
object and end of human government, are now widely different from 
the crude notions which were then entertained by the greatest 
portion of the people on the habitable globe. 

The monstrous absurdity that kings ruled by " divine right''' had 
prevailed for centuries ; and even in England, under their boasted 
" Magna Charta," the history of the reign of the Tudors and of the 
Stuarts is little else than a gloomy picture of the licentiousness of 
power, when exerted by tyrannical rulers over the heads of an 
ignorant and servile people. 

It seems to have beea claimed by the crowned heads of the old 
world, (and the' deep debasement of their subjects in most cases 
conceded the claim to be jusl) that the great majority of mankind 
were placed here, on the earth, for no other purpose than to 
contribute to their aggrandizement, and that the only proper end of 
government was to uphold tyranny and punish resistance to 
oppression. 

True, this false notion had brought one of the Stuarts to the 
block, and had sent anotbor into perpetual exile, but these admoni- 
tions were productive of no radical change in the monarchal policy 
of England, which seemed to traverse the earth in quest of objects 
on which to display its arbitrary power. 

It finally received a check, and from a quarter of the world where 
it least expected to meet with resistance. 

In the begmning of the seventeenth centuryj the seventy of ths 



British statutes against Protestant non-con foimists, had driven across 
the ocean and finally landed on the rock of Plymouth, a little band 
of men, who, in the quaint language of the English historian, 
possessed "a violent turn towards republicanism and a zealous 
attachment to civil liberty." 

From this " grain of mustard seed, there grew and waxed a great 
tree •" so that in the beginning of the last quarter of the eighteenth 
century, the population of the then thirteen British Colonies of 
North America numbered about three millions, of souls. 

This people had uniformly evinced a most filial regard for the 
mother country, and the sons of the Pilgrims had time and again, 
poufed out their blood like water in fighting the battles of England, 
whilst that ambitious power was contending with the monarchy of 
France for the supremacy in America. 

In return tliey had been treated with jealousy and contempt : their 
proud European brethren wers jealous of their unexampled increase 
in wealth and population, and lliey professed to hold in contempt 
the virtuous simplicity of their lives and conduct. 

They were indebted to the government of England for liorde.^ of 
ofRce=holderi, sent hither to be pampered upon their industry, and 
they were loo often men '•' whose cijaracter and conduct [as vva-'. 
once declared in the British House of Cammons,] caused the blood 
of these sons of liberty to recoil wiihm them." 

At length it was proposed to fill the measure of oppression by 
imposmg taxes upon the Colonies far the benefit of the royal 
treasury. This policy, so utterly obnoxious to freemen, was first 
sought to be enforced at the instance of the minister Grenville, m 
1765. On the 22nd of March of that year, the famous Stamp Ac! 
received the royal assent. By- the terms of this Act the people ot 
the Colonies were required to use English stamped paper for all 
written instruments whatsoever ; and paper thus stamped was to be 
purchased at extravagant prices from agents appointed for the 
purpose by the British government. Severe penalties were attached 
10 the violation of the law, and these penalties were to be enforced 
m the-King's Courts of Admiralty, throughout the Colonies, without 
Jhe intervention of a jury. 

The passage of this act called forth a general burst of mdignatior?. 
and so firm and united were the people of America in opposing the 
measure, that the law could not, in fact, be earned into execution 



in Virgniiaj Patrick Henry thundered his indignant opposition In 
the House of Burgesses, and by a series of patriotic resolutions, gave 
the ministry of England to understand, that the people of the 
Colonies would acquiesce in no system of taxation framed by a 
legislative body in which they were not represented. In Boston 
and New Haven, the agents of Great Britain for the distribution of 
stamps were treated with such rudeness and contempt by the 
citizens, that they were glad to resign their odious commissions. 
About the same time, Dr. Franklin, then in London, was called for 
examination before the House of Commons, where he boldly pro- 
nounced the opinion that "the Act of Parliament tor taxing America 
had alienated the affections of the people from the mother country, 
and that they would never submit to pay the stamp duty without 
compulsion," 

Through the eloquent and persevering efforts of Chatliam and 
Camden in the House of Lords, and the magnanimous Col. Barre 
m the House of Commons, tlie Stamp Act was repealed in the spring 
of 1766, but Parliament at the same time made public declaration 
of their right, not only, to tax the Colonies, but to bind them in all 
cases whatsoever. 

In contemplating the more immediate causes which impelled ouf 
patriotic sires to make the declaration of independence, it will be 
interesting to note in how signal a manner the boasted wisdom of 
man was made foolishness for our good ; and, in this respect, how 
the most ill-judged and unjust designs, by some moral chemistry 
altogether beyond our ken, were made to produce tlie happiest 
results. 

In tile celebrated discussion which sprang up in the House of 
Lords on tlie repeal of the Stamp Act, the Karl of Chatham mairs 
tained that " taxation was no part of the governing power which 
Parliament had a right to exert over the Colonfes." And Lord 
Camden declared, with great good sense, "that taxation and repre 
sentatioa were inseparable.'' " It is," said he, " an eternal law of 
nature ; for vi^hatever is a man's own is absolutely his own : no man 
has a right to take it from him without his consent. Whoever 
attempts to do it, attempts an injury : whoever does it, commits a 
robbery." 

In reply to these cogent aigunients, Lord Mansfield, then Chief 
Juctice of England; and really one of the greatest men of that or 



of any other age, insisted upon the specious doctrine of virtual 
representation. " There can be no doubt," said he, "but that the 
inhabitants of the Colonies are represenTed in Parliament, as the 
greatest part of the people of England are represented, among nine 
millions of whom there are eight who have no votes in electing 
members of Parliament. B'or what purpose then," he continued, 
" are arguments drawn from a distinction in which there is no real 
difference, of a virtual and actual representation ? A member of 
Parliament chosen for any borough, represents not only the consti- 
tuents and inhabitants of that particular place^ but he represents the 
inhabitants of every other borough in Great Britain. He represents 
the city of London and all the Commons of this land, and the 
iuhahitants of all the colonies and doininions of Great Britain^ 
and is in duty bound to take care of their interests." 

Thus reasoned upon this, then all important topic, one of the 
most lofty and comprehensive intellects in England : a man too, 
who professed to admire " the industrious, frugal and well meaning 
people of America," (as he termed them,) and who looked Upon the? 
Cololiies as the most precious jewels of the British crown. But 
fortunately for the cause of American Independence, Lord Mansfield 
was no hicnd to liberal principles in government, and uniformly 
opposed every measure which might have led to conciliation and 
prevented the magnificent result we this day commemorate. 

In May, 1767, another plan was adopted for taxing America: 
by an act of Parliament, duties were imposed on all tea, glass, paper 
and painters' colors which should be imported into tfie Colonies. 
This proceeding was received in the same spirit with the Stamp 
Act, and so portentous were the signs of opposition nmong the high 
spirited citizens of Boston, tliat two reoiments of British troops were 
ordeied on from Halifax to overawe the town. The consequence 
was a serious collision between the military and the citizens, in 
which a number of tlie latter were killed. Thus it seemed as if 
every step taken by the British government, had a direct tendency 
to alienate the affections of the people of the Colonies from the 
parent country, and to prepare the way for a revolution. 

in 1771, the celebrated Lord North was called to the ministry. 
At his instance, the duties imposed by the act of "67 were taken ofi'> 
with the exception of those laid on tea ; Parliament at the same 
tii^ie, most scrupulously reserving to themselves tlie right to tax the 



Colonies at their pleasure, in the mean time, agreements had been 
formed by legislative assemblies and hv influential individuals 
throughout the country, restricting and in a measure interdicting 
the use of goods imported from England. In 1773, the East India 
Company, encourao-ed so to do by an act of Parliament remitting 
the home duties, made large shipments of tea to the American 
Colonies, both with a view to their own profit and as a test of the 
expediency of the law imposing the tax. The result showed the 
indomitable spirit which has ever characterised -the Anglo-American 
race. Tlie Bostonians entered the ships and threiv the tea 
overboard. 

As an act of retaliation for this alleged outrage, Parliament, in 
March 1774, passed the Boston Port Bill : that is, they interdicted 
all commercial intercourse with the port of Boston, and prohibited 
the landing and shipping of any goods at that place, until the 
citizens should first pay for the tea which they had destroyed. 

This last measure of the British government led to a General 
Congress of delegates from all the Colonies, which met at Phila- 
delphia, on the 4th of Sept. 1774. 

The proceedings of this body of men, called together as they 
were under such novel and exciting circumstances, were of so 
dignified a character as to attract universal admiration. They 
addressed the king in most respectful language, and at the same 
time with sufiicient firmness, and urged him to restore to liis 
American subjects their violated rights. They addressed the people 
of England, and appealed to them if any reason could be given 
why British subjects, living three thousand miles from the royal 
palace, should enjoy less liberty than those in its immediate vicinity? 
They addressed their constituents, and presented an account of the 
oppressive measures of Parliament during the ten or twelve years 
then last past : they applauded the spirit they had shown in defense 
of their rights and encouraged them to persevere and be prepared for 
all contingencies, plainly intimating that those might occur which 
would put their constancy severely to the test. They agreed not to 
use any British goods, but, by every means in their power, to 
encourage agriculture, arts and manufactures in America. They 
approved of the conduct of Massachusetts, and exhorted all to 
persevere in the cause of freedom ; and finally they determined to 
continue the Congressional union until the repeal by Parliament at 



oppressive (J iitieri -ol the laws restricting the right of trial by Jury - 
and of the acts against the people ol Massachusetts. 

Lord Chatham is said to have declared "that though he had 
studied and admired the free states of antiquity; the master spirits 
o( the world, yet for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity and wis- 
dom of conclusion, no body of men could stand in preference to 
this Congress." 

On the 18th of April 1775, the battle of Lexington opened the 
war of the American Revolution. The intelligence of the com- 
mencement of hostilities flew like lightning through the colonies and 
called forth a universal shout of— " liberty or death." Upon the 
reception of the tidings that American blood had been spilled on the 
plains of Lexington, mechanics left their work-shops, and farmers 
their plow-fields, and all with one accord hastened to the scene of 
hostilities, so that, in an incredibly short space of time, a numerical 
force of twenty thousand men was collected in the vicinity of 
Boston. 

From this time onward, important events followed each other in 
quick succession. Congress assembled at Philadelphia on the 10th 
of May and directed an issue of three millions of dollars, in bills of 
credit, to defray the expenses of the war. On the 15th of June, 
Washington was unanimously chosen Commander in Chie( of the 
Army. On the 17th of June, was fought the battle of Bunkers' Hill 
where the immortal Warren sealed, with his life's blood, his devotion 
to his country ; and where, too, the \'eteran soldiers of George the 
3d were twice repulsed by the cool and determined daring of the 
yeomanry of New England. 

In the following winter, Congress addressed to the King another 
petition for a redress of grievances,-in which they set forth, in the 
strongest terms, the attachment and loyalty of the people of the Col- 
onies to the Government of Great Britain. The petition was treated 
with contempt, and the petitioners were charged with rebellion and 
with a desire to establish an independent empire in the west. At the 
same time the Parliament resolved that they would reduce the re- 
bellious colonies to obedience by measures of coercion and distress. 
Up to this period, very few of the leading men in the colonies had 
contemplated a separation from England ; on the contrary, many of 
the most spirited and influential opponents of British injustice and 
oppression, shuddered at the idea of an independent government ; 



but repeated indignities gradually prepared tlieir minds to view with 
complacency that interesting and important result—and when, as if 
to cap the very climax of outrage, the British Government hired the 
mercenary troops of Germany to cross the ocean and butcher Amer- 
ican citizens lor insisting upon their inborn rights, it seemed as it 
every child was instantly weaned from so unnatural a ihother. The 
measure of England's wrongs #as now filled to overflowing and her 
American Colonies were lost to her forever. Bitterly, most bitterly, 
did the proud monarch of Britain afterwards rue the indignity with 
which he then treated his dutiful subjects in America. During the 
long season of mental aberration which preceded his death, George 
the 3d was often heard to exclaim^ in tones of anguish, "how can I 
that am born a gentleman, ever lay my head on my pillow in peace 
and quiet, as long as 1 remember the loss of my American Colonies'?" 

On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, made a mo- 
tion in Congress that the Colonies be declared free and independent ; 
and on the 4th day of July 1776, Congress published to the world the 
solemn declaration that " these United Colonies are and of right 
ought to be Free and Independent States." 

The declaration of independence professes to hold certain truths 
as self evident, to wit : " that all men are created equal — that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights — that 
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that to 
secure these rights Governments are instituted among men deriving 
their just powers, from' the consent of the governed." But, however 
self evident such propositions may have been, men at that day, had 
not been accustomed to avow them above their breath — and every 
one of those magnanimous souls who subscribed his name to the 
great manifesto of freedom, made his signature " with his neck in a 
halter." If British bayonets had triumphed, the signers of the dec- 
laration of independence would have "died the death." 

True, at this day the proposition seems to be as clear as a sun- 
beam that civil government is constituted and upheld solely with a 
view to the happiness and well being of the mass of the people. It 
is received as an axiom in America, and is very generally acknowi-. 
edged in Europe ; but we all know with what tenacity bigotry and 
ignorance have adhered to the notion that divine wisdom had select- 
ed a certain race of men to sit here upon the earth «' crowned and 
2 



10 

sceptered," and had ordained that the busy milhons should toil and 
suffer and die for their pleasure and aggrandizement. 

The great principle of self government is at war with such an 
absurdity ; it was clearly broached by the framers of the declaration^ 
and the problem, now in full course of solution, has cost the world, 
an immense expenditure of money and a vast outpouring of human 
blood. • 

In view of the magnitude of the questions involved — with the lim- 
ited resources of the colonies — the immense wealth and power of 
England — and the imminent deadly risk which the actors themselves 
incurred — language fails, adequately to portray the sublime dignity 
and exalted philanthropy exhibited by the sages and patriots of '76, 
when, in support of their immortal declaration of independence, 
''^'they, humbly relying on the protection of Divine Providence, mu- 
tually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their 
sacred honor." And Well did their countrymen sustain them in 
the proud yet critical emergency. 

Under the lead of that great and good man, whose name cannot -ir 
bespoken without an increased pulsation of the patriot's heart, the 
brave and willing, though destitute and undisciplined soldiery of the 
states were taught to face and fight the well appointed legions of the 
king. Yea more, they were taught to endure privations and hard- 
ships of which we, in these " piping times of plenty," can have but 
faint conceptions. They were, however, actuated by the noblest im- 
pulses. They were patriots striking for freedom ; they fought for their 
wives and children, and domestic altars ; they fought for their own 
birth-right and for the common rights of man ; they fought for them- 
selves, and they fought too for posterity. 

Verily there were giants in those days. Not giants in stature 
merely, but giants in energy — giants in perseverance — giants in 
valor and giants in patriotism. We have but few of them left among 
us, and their number is rapidly diminishing ; but, all honored be 
their names and memory ! Soldiers of the Revolution ! ! '• 
What a rush of patriotic emotions circles around that lofty appella- 
tion ! How insignificant and worthless are " stars and garters" and 
other orders of nobility, when placed in comparison with this time- 
honored title ! Long may the survivors continue on the earth to 
witness the blessings of free government, purchased by them with 
privation and with blojc^d, descending upon the heads of their chil= 



u 

dren and their children's children; and when they shall go to their 
rest, in&y it be with the pleasing consciousness that they have "done 
much good in their day and generation ;" and that " millions ye^ 
unborn will rise up to call them blessed." 

For seven long years did Washington and his brave compeers in 
arras sustain the unequal strife with England. In many a terrific 
battle-field were the sinking hopes of the patriot host on the brink of 
flight forever. 

But, thanks be to God, " the race was not to the swift nor the 
battle to the strong." 

Our fathers were sternly true to their principles, and in the face of 
difiiculties, in the face of dangers, almost in defiance ot death itself, 
they wrought out for themselves with the blessing of heaven upon 
their labors, a happy deliverance from the hand of the oppressor, and 
for tl' eir posterity a glorious inheritance of civil and religious liberty. 
They were often defeated in battle by the superiority of their enemy 
in numbers and discipline, but each defeat called forth newenergiesj 
and on the far famed fields of Saratoga and Yorktown, two well ap- 
pointed British armies, commanded by distinguished Generals, laid 
down their arras before the irregular and undisciplined troops which 
they had long affected to despise. At length provisional articles of 
peace were signed at Paris on the 30th of November, 1782, by the 
Commissioners of his Britanic Majesty and the American Commis- 
sioners, in which his Majesty acknowledged the thirteen United 
Colonies to be free, sovereign and independent States: the 
definitiver treaty was- signed on the 3d of September of the next 
year. 

From that lime to the present period, the United Stales have 
advanced in wealth and population with a rapidity unexampled in 
the history of the lise of nations. While intestine commotions or 
wars of ambition and conquest have sat like an incubus upon the 
necks of the people of the old world, the government and citizens of 
the United States have, for the most partj turned their attention to 
the peaceful arts of Agriculture, Commerce and Manufactures. 
True, an unfortunate exception is in progress of developement at this 
time: For, however much we may laud the chivalry of our 
countrymen as displayed at Buena Vista and Cerro Gordo (and it is 
not in the soul of man to remain insensible to high military 
achievemenl) we should all desire tosee the period speedily arrive 



12 

when "our swords rricay be turned into plough-shares and our spears 
into pruning hooks." War is not the true poHcy of this great 
republic. Na}^ it is the accursed bane of freedom, and if, at some 
future period (God grant to place it far distant in the vale of years,) 
our proud Eagles shall be found withdrawing their gaze from the 
burning sun, and stooping in their heavenly flight, and screaming 
the death-cry of. liberty at the feet of a despot, it will have been 
brought about by a neglect of God and his holy religion, by 
contemning the peaceful arts, and by an undue love of military glory 
and the consequent thirst for foreign conquest. 

There is, however, another cloud hanging over the horizon of oiu- 
national prosperity which, though erst no bigger than a man's hand, 
threatens to hang the whole heavens in black. 

"Vou will understand me, of course, as alluding to that paradoxical 
commentary upon the declaration of independence — ^^ the peculiar 
instituiiony At the adoption of the Constitution, the principle of 
involuntary servitude was recognized to exist under the sanction of 
law, in a portion of the States;, as a matter of necessit3^ It wa?, 
however, considered to be a crying evil, and the soundest heads and 
purest hearts in the Convention which framed the federal compact, 
viewed it as a cancer upon the body politic, which the self interest, 
if not the philanthropy of the slaveholder, would speedily eradicate. 

Time has demonstrated the fallacy of such belief. The cupidity 
of men who grow slaves and make merchandise of human flesh 
knows no such restraint as religion, n.oraiitj'' or patriotism would 
impose upon their praccices. True, if the evil had been restricted (as 
it should have been) to the states forming the union at the adoption 
of the constitution, self interest might have led to the extinction of 
slavery in moat of the members of the confederacy long before this. 
But the demands of the slave holders have been insatiate : they 
were not satisfied with the immunities indirectly guaranteed to the 
original slates by the constitution, but, at the admission of each new 
state into the union, from a climate where the thermometer occasion- 
ally ranges above zero, have earnestly insisted that their slave market 
should be proporiionnbly extended. 

The people of the free states have uniformly acceded to their 
unjust demands, until we have become, emphatically, ^AesZave nation 
of the earth. All great questions of governmental policy, yea and of 
ecclesiastical also, are made to bow to the behests of " the peculiar ir^- 



13 

siitution." It seeks to extend itself, like a dealh-pall, over all the 
fair territories of this union, and to incorporate itself with all future 
acquisitions of national domain whether made by purchase or by 
conquest. Yea, more than all this ; it seeks to usurp the elective 
franchise itself, and we are now told with an air of superlative inso- 
lence and disdain, I hat political organization of party may henceforth 
do as it will, the.slave states will elect the President. 

And so ihey will choose the president — and rule in the councils of 
the nation — and perpetuate the evils of slavery — until the free citi> 
zens of the North, and of the East, and of the West shall, with uni- 
ted voice, say to the foul fiend—'* thus far shalt thou come and no 
farther." 

The respectable body of artisans in our town, have been mainly 
instrumental in directing public attention to the observance of this 
festival, and, if I am rightly informed, the pecuniary gains arising 
from the entertainment at the table, are to be appropriated to the 
purchase of a library for their particular use. Gentlemen of the Me- 
chanics' Society i You are associated for a noble purpose. To culti- 
vate the intellect and acquire useful knowledge is the highest em- 
ployment of man. It is your undoubted right, if it be your pleasure, 
to draw liberally upon all the various stores of learning, and the day 
has gone by when a knowledge of the arts and sciences would be 
de5med to conflict with the usefulness of a practical mechanic. 
Under our republican government, too, the honors and emoluments of 
office are as legitimately whliih (he reach of the farmer and 
mechanic as of the p'ofessional man. In point of fact, very many of 
the wisest statesmen to whom our country has given birth, have set 
out in life with some mechanical employment. You are all aware 
that Benjamin Franklin, who electrified both hemispheres with his 
discoveries in science, and who was equally celebrated as a statesman, 
wrought for many years as a practical printer; Roger Sherman, 
whose name is affixed to the declaration of independence, and of 
whom Thomas Jefferson declared " he never said a foolish thing in 
his life," was a practical shoemaker, and preserved his bench and 
tools until his death. 

More recently, Nathaniel Smith, who became one of the nine 
learned judges of Connecticut, exchanged the employment of a tiri-s 
pedlar for the study of the law. 



14 

Nevertheless, I would not, as a general rule, recommend to 
farmers and mechanics any change of a fixed vocation. " Shoemaker, 
stick to your last I" is a proverb sanctioned by the voice of centuries 
and hundreds and thousands of men have made themselves misera- 
ble by slighting the admonition. Where one man, forsooth, by dint 
of perseverance and by ihe force of genius, might arrive at eminence 
by exchanging his trade for a learned profession, a hundred others 
would fail in their object and render themselves ridiculous. 

And where is the necessity for change ? Manual labor is healthful 
and honorable. It may not ordinarily lead to wealth ; but with 
reasonable economy, it insures to the individual an independent 
livelihood, and, in this country, the practice of the law or of medicine 
will do no more. In an address recently made by Daniel Webster 
to the Charleston bar, I find the following paragraph in point : 
"After twenty five years experience, 1 can say, the condensed 
history of most, if not all, good lawyers, is, that they lived well 
and died poor." 

Qualify yourselves for usefulness my friends^ in any avocation of 
life, and rely upon it, you will not only be respected yourselves, but 
you will reflect dignity upon your callmg. 

One other reflection and I have done. In the days of the American 
Revolution some very rich men embraced the cause of the crown 
to save their property — a few very poor men were bought with 
British gold. But men of your stamp, men of moderate means with 
well regulated habits of industry — farmers and mechanics — were 
always found in the right place. The country could rely upon 
them, as its bone and sinew — and they saved the country. 

Now the country must rely upon just such men at the present day. 
You acknowledge that you have received from your fathers a 
precious inheritance: the descent is cast upon you clogged with a 
single condition. Use the precious boon of liberty but do not abuse 
it ; and see that your children receive it unimpaired at your hands. 
How, you will ask, may we best discharge this great responsibility? 
I answer, "the youth of a nation are the trustees of posterity " — 
therefore educate the youth. 

Again — we can never expect to attain a desirable state of social, 
equality " by depressing the few :" it can only be done " htj elevating 
the many''^ — therefore educate the youth. 



15 

There is no safeguard for free institutions but that of an enlightened 
and virtuous population. 

If we would shun the evils of anarchy, vv^e should educate our 
children. If we would avoid a despotism, we should educate our 
children. 



"^^FINIS,^^ 



EULOGY 



UPON 



GENERIL THOIM L. HAIER, 



PRONOUNCED BEFORE THE 



GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF OHIO, 



It COLUMBUS j JANUARY 18, 184T. 



BY RUFUS P. SPALDING. 



H. CANFIELD, PRINTER, 

18-17. 






EULOGY. 



Gentlemen of the Senate, 

And Gentlemen op the House of Kepresentatives : 
It was the saying of one of the Latin Fathers, that " the care 
of funerals, the place of sepulture, and the pomp of obsequies, are 
rather consolations to the living than any benefit to the dead." 

This is doubtless very true, but the apothegm is susceptible of 
some amplification. There are benefits resulting from an offering 
modestly laid upon the tomb of departed worth, which far outweigh 
the consolatory influences that flow in upon the hearts of surviving 
friends by reason of sympathy, 'though it 

" Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees • 

Their medicinal gum," 

In the first place a suitable exhibition of funeral rites and 
ceremonies has a tendency to mortify the pride and chasten the affec- 
tions of the living— to call off the mind, for a season, from the 
vanities and uncertainties of life, and to fix the attention upon the 
solemnity and certainty of death. 

We read that the Egyptians, after their feasts, were wont to present 
the company with a great image of death by one that cried out to 
them, 

" Drink and be merry, for such shalt thou be when thou art dead." 

— A still higlier authority says to us — " it is better to go to the 

house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is 
the end of all men ; and the living will lay it to his heart." 

Again ; a decent manifestation of respect to the memory of the 
virtuous dead, is a powerful incentive to the living to emulate that 
course of conduct which strews with flowers, and fills with fragrance 
=' the valley of the shadow of death." Impressed with the truth of 



this sentiment, the great Roman Orator has said ; =' the place of oar 
sepulture is wholly to be contemned by us, but not to be neglected 
by our friends." 

There is then, a sort of classic as well as religious propriety, in 
the resolve of this General Assembly, which suspends, for a season, 
the business of legislation, that honor may be done to the memory of 
one, whose 

ce _____ name is great 

In mouths of wisest censure," 

Fellow Citizens : 

The insatiate archer once more hath sped his shaft, and lo ! the 
pride of our slate is fallen : Death has entered among us, and a 
fearful chasm is left in our ranks. He has torn his victim from 
the fond family circle ; from the forum ; from the legislative hall ? 
from the ramparts of his country's honor. 

He has triumphed over the affection of the husband and the father, 
the eloquence of the advocate, the wisdom of the statesman, the 
patriotism and valor of the soldier, and all, all is grief ! — 

Well may we apostrophize in the beautiful words of another :— 
" O thou destroyer of human hope and happiness! was there no 
head frosted by time, and bowed with careSj to which thy marble 
pillow could have yielded rest ? Was there no heart-broken sufferer 
to seek refuge from his woes in thy cheerless habitation? Was there 
jio insulated being whose crimes or miseries would have made thee 
welcome? Who had lived without a friend, and could die without 

a mourner?- These, alas, could give no celebrity to thy conquests, 

foT they fall, unheeded as the zephyr. Thy trophies are thegathered 
glories of learning, the withered hopesof usefulness, the tears of sor- 
rowing innocence, the soul-appalling cries of the widow and the 
prphan. Thou delightest to break our happiness into fragments, and 
to tear our hearts asunder. We knov/ that thou art dreadful, and 
unsparing, and relentless— else our departed friend had continued 
with us. His tomb would have been, where our hopes had placed 
it, far distant in the vale of years. Still would his manly and 
generous affections warm and delight the social circle— still would 
his pure and spotless manners invite the praise and imitation of our 
youth— still would his impresssive eloquence lead captive courts 



and senates— the golden cord of connubial affection would gain 
stren2;th and beauty from time — and still his children would call him 
father." 

Yain and deceitful illusion ! 

" For him no more the blazing hearth shall burn, 
Nor tender consort watch .with anxious care ; 
Nor children run to lisp Iheir sire's rpturn, 
Nor climb his knee, the envied kiss to share." 

But why do we repine? It is appointed unto man once to die, 
and after that the Judgment^ — —aye, the Judgment. 

" With noiseless tread, death comes on man; 
No plea — no prayer delivers him — 
From midst of life's unfinished plan. 
With sudden hand it severs him. 
And ready, or not ready, no delay, 
Forth to his Judge's bar he must away." 

'Tis the dread of judgment that robes in terror the image of death. 
The virtuous and the good need not tremble ft the dissolution of 
the body — much less should their surviving friends lauient their 
fate as those who have "died without hope." 

«' Why," says Seneca, '■ should this rather be always running in 
a man's head, that fortune can do all things for the living man, than 
this, that fortune has no power over him that knows how to die ?" 
Our friend, distinguished through life for promptness and 
punctuality, has, in his death, paid the debt of nature a little while 
before us.- --That is all, 

Thomas Lyon Hamer had his birth in the county of Northum- 
berland, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the month of 
July, of the year one thousand and eight hundred. 

At the commencement of our second war with England, his 
father, who was a farmer of moderate means, removed to the state 
of New York, and resided for a time in the vicinity of Lake Cham- 
plain. While there, it fell to the lot of Thomas, then a youth of 
only about fourteen years, to be an eye witness of the naval action 
fought by the heroic McDonough : and that thrilling scene, with its 
triumphant result, gave to him, as he often declared, that penchant 
for warlike achievements which adhered to him through life. 

In the year eighteen hundred and seventeen, the elder Mr. Hamer 
migrated to Ohio, mid purchased a small farm near Oxford, in the 



county of Butler, where lie resided until his death. His son 
Thomas accompanied the family on their journey until they reached 
the mouth of " ISine Mile Creek," which puts into the Ohio River 
in the county of Clermont. At this point he bade them adieu, 
having already determined in his own mind, that he wc^ild no longer 
constitute a charge upon the slender resources of his father, to 
whose kindness he was indebted for a tolerable English education, 
which, he rightly conceived, v/onld be fully adequate to the supply 
of his future wants. 

And here, amidst the rude and unlettered, though generous and 
warm-hearted pioneers of Clermont, the honored subject of our 
notice, then in his eighteenth year, an entire stranger in the land — 
without money, save only " one and sixpence" in his pocket, and 
without clothing, except the ''home-spun" which he wore, began 
his brilliant career. 

Oh, what volumes of instruction does such an example furnish 
to the young men of this republic : So true is it, that — 

^' Mores cuique sui fingunt fortunam. " 

Or, as the English bard has it, 

" Himself, not fortuQe, ev'ry one must blame, 
Since men's own manners do their forlune frame." 

in the immediate vicinity of the place where he first landed, Mr. 
Hamer taught a school for about four months, and in that time 
borrowed of one Stephen Lindsay, a noted magistrate in those parts, 
an old and worm-eaten copy of Espinasse's Nisi Prius, which he 
read with intense interest, reciting his lessons to the learned justice, 
during his hours of relaxation from the duties of his calling.. And 
thus he commenced the study of that arduous profession of which, 
at a subsequent period, he became the ornament and pride. 

At the close of this school, he was continued in the same employ- 
ment by the citizens of Witho.msville, a village some five or six 
miles in the interior, where he had access to* a. small collection of 
books owned by Dr. William Porter, an amateur in professional sci- 
ence, who had alternately studied Law, Physic and Divinity, and 
whose library bespoke the variegated character of his scientific pur, 
suits. 

He subsequently took charge of a school in the village of Bethel, 
where he boarded in the family of the late Thomas Morris, then a 
practising attorney, under whose instruction he prosecuted the study 



of the law until his admission to the bar by the Supreme Court, sitting, 
at WiiHamsburg for the county of Clermont, in the spring of the year 
one thousand eight hundred and twenty one. It is somewhat re- 
markable that, up to this period, he had never, at any time, been 
within the walls of a Court-House. 

In the month of August (1821) Mr. Hamer repaired to Georgetown, 
the seat of Justice for the county of Brown, and entered upon the 
duties of his profession. Very soon thereafter, he married Lydia 
Bolton Higgins, the amiable daughter of Gen'L Robert Biggins of. 
Virginia, who was a soldier of the Revolution. This union was 
productive of great domestic happiness, which was only interrupted 
by the lamentable death of Mrs. Hamer in the month of January, 
1845. They Iiad seven children, five of whom (two sous and 
three daughters,) survive their beloved father. The second wife 
and now disconsolate widow of Gen'L Hamer, was Miss Catharine 
Johnston, daughter of Doctor Wra. B. Johnston of Minerva, Mason 
county, Kentucky. 

Upon opening an office at Georgetown, Mr. Hamer speedily ac- 
quired a lucrative practice at the bar ; and such was the purity of 
his life and conduct, the gentleness of his deportment, the fascination 
of his artless and spirit-stirring eloquence, that he at once became a 
distinguished favorite in the community where he lived. 
In the fall of the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty 
. five, he first entered upon public life as a Representative in the Gen- 
eral Assembly of Ohio from the county of Brown. He served in the 
same capacity duing the winter of 1828, and on the organization of 
the House in December, 1829, was elected Speaker ; this station he 
was admirably qualified to fill, as well by reason of his courteous 
demeanor and singular self-possession, as his intimate acquaintance 
with Parliamentary law. 

On the second of December, 1833, Mr. Hamer took his seat in the 
Congress of the United States as one of the Representatives from OhiOj 
and in a term of service of six years duration, acquired a celebrity 
which gave him rank amongst the most astute politicians of the 
day. In 1838 he declined a re-election to Congress, and for a series 
of years thereafter, devoted his undivided attention to professional 
pursuits. 



The emoluments of his practice as a lawyer, were ^reat, but they 
arose rather from the multiphcity of his " retainers," than from any 
thing like exorbitant charges in single cases. 

His high and refined sense of honor was exhibited as strongly in 
his professional conduct, as in his social or political relations, and 
his kindness to junior members of the profession was proverbial. 
His p-reat excellence as a lawyer consisted in his profound knowledge 
of human nature, in the clear and discriminating power of his intel- 
lect, and in the fervent zeal with which he always maintained his 
client's cause. 

Early in the summer of 1846 he evinced a disposition to return to 
political life, and was accordingly placed in nomination as a repre- 
sentative to Congress from the district in which he lived. At this 
time he was at the zenith of professional, if not of political fame. 
He had formed a co-partnership in the practice of the law with 
Saunders W. Johnston, Esquire, who was married to his eldest 
daughter ; and the business of their firm is said to have yielded a 
revenue of more than six thousand dollars per annum. 

Then it was that his patriotism was put to the test : — when sur- 
rounded by all the endearments of home ; a devoted wj/e, dutiful and 
affectionate children, constant friends, a competency of worldly 
wealth, high professional fame, political advancement near at handj 
and untold civic preferment in the future ; — then it was that his 
country's call came upon his ear, and our gallant Hamer obeyed the 
behest. 
Fearing lest the requisition for volunteers in the Mexican war, might 
not be promptly met by Ohio, he rode around his district, called 
meetings, and, like 

" Henry, the forest-born Demosthenes 
Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas ; " 

by his patriotic eloquence, aroused the sleeping energies of his coun- 
trymen, and excited them to deeds of noble daring. 

Twelve hundred of the hardy yeomanry of Brown, Highland and 
Clermont proffered their services in their country's cause. The 
eloquent Hamer consecrated himself to the same glorious service. 
The example became contagious. 

His law-partner, the intrepid Johnston, volunteered : two of 
their law-students volunteered: a bound-boy of Mr. Hamer volurx- 



teered : and, finally, the young son of Hamer pressed forward to join 
the patriotic throngs, but his father kindly staid his steps. 

It has occasioned no little surprise with that class ol community 
who were only acquainted with Mr. Hamer in his public and profes- 
sional character, that he could be induced to volunieer for the set- 
vice in Mexico as a private soldier. The mystery is not inexplicable. 
Next to his love ot country, he was most ardently attached to his 
adopted state. He was jealous of her reputation almost to a fault-- 
and when he enrolled his name with the " Brown County Boys," he' 
avowed his object to he, to makft himself useful in the service, in any 
post which he mio;ht be deemed competent to fill ; entertaining the 
hope that he could be instrumental, in some degree, in elevating the 
character of Ohio to that chivalrous standard already attained by 
some of her sister States. 

In the organization of the volunteers at Camp Washington, Mr. Ha- 
mer was elected Major of the 1st Regiment, and very soon thereafter 
proceeded with his compatriots in arms, to meet the enemies of his 
country. 

On his way to the seat of war, a commission reached him from 
the President of the United States constituting him a Brigadier 
General in the volunteer service — a high tribute to his talents and 
patriotism ! Especially so, as he was known to lack experience irr 
military affairs. 

in process of time we find him at Camargo at the head of the Ohio 
Brigade. Whilst here, the General in Chief resolved to proceed to 
tile assault of Monterey with none but regular troops and southern 
volunteers. The course'pursued by General Hamer, on this occa^ 
sion, would in days of yore have secured to him a " hecatomb." 

He declared, in a council of war, that if a conquest of territory was 
to be made in the Mexican Empire, the citizen-soldiers from the free 
States, and especially those from the free states of the west, would 
claim the privilege not only of taking part in the contest of arms, but 
also in the civil contest that would ensue, as to the government and 
laws of the subjugated territory. 

His timely remonstrance produced the desired effect : the order of 
march was changed, and General Hamer's Brigade, led on by their 
brave chieftain, performed prodigies of valor, and won immortal 
TTOown at the storming of Monterey. 
4 



10 

The coolness, skill and intrepidity displayed by Gen'l. Hamer in 
that stoutly contested and bloody fray, forms the crowning act in his 
short, but singularly brilliant and eventful career. 

And now mark the instability of man's greatness, and the deceit- 
fulness of all his earthly glory. 

On the second Tuesday in October A. D. 1846, Brigadier General 
Thomas L. Hamer was without opposition, elected to the Congress 
of the United States, as a Representative from the 7th District in Ohio, 
composed of the counties of Highland, Brown and Clermont. 

On the third day of December A. D. 1846, Mnjor General Taylor 
addressed the following communication to the Adjutant General of 
the army from his Head-Q-uarters near Monterey : 

" It becomes my melancholy duty to report the death of Brigadier 
General Hamer of the volunteer service, who expired last evening, 
after a short illness. 

" The order to the army announcing this sudden dispensation, 
expresses but feebly the high estimation in which the deceased was 
held by all who knew him. In council, I found him clear and 
judicious : and in the administration of his command, though kind, 
yet always impartial and just. He was an active participant in the 
operations before Monterey; and since, had commanded the volvnteer 
division. 

" His loss to the army, at this time, cannot be supplied ; and the 
experience which he daily acquired in a new profession, rendered 
his services continually more valuable. I had looked forward, 
with confidence, to the benefit of his abilities and judgment in the 
service which yet lies b«fore us, and feel most sensibly the privation 
of them." 

And so it is — cui down in the midst of his days, from the object of 
univ ersal love, our friend has become the object of universal lamen- 
tation ! ! ! 

On a similar occasion, one of the most highly gifted amongst the 
many intellectual and accomplished sons of Harvard hath said, 
" Oh ! how dangerous it is to be eminent. The oak whose roots 
descend to the world below, while its summit towers to the world 
above, falls with its giant branches, the victim of the storm. 

" The osisr shakes— and bends— and totters — and rises, and 
triumphs in obscurity. 



11 

And yet who of you would owe his safety to his insignificance 1 
■ Beneath that living osier, not an insect can escape the son^ 



Beneath that fallen oak the vegetable world was wont to floorish. 

the ivy clung around its trunk the birds built their wests 

among its branches, and from its summit saw and welcomed the 

morning sun tlie beasts fled to it for refuge from the tempest^ 

and man himself was refreshed in its shade, and learned frooi its 
fruit the laws of nature. 

" Oh ! how delightful it is to be eminent ! To win the race of 
usefulness — to live in the beams of well earned praise — and walk in 
the zodiack among the stars. 

'• Fame, with its perils and delights, my friends, must ha ours. 
■Welcome its rocky precipice ! Welcome its amaranthine garlands ! 
We must wear them on our brow — We must leave them on our 
grave. 

" We must, we will fill our lives with acts of usefulness, and crown 
them with deeds of honor : and when we die, there will l^e tears oa 
the cheek of innocence, and sighs from the bosom of virtue, and the 
young will wish to resemble, and the aged will lament to lose us," 



>ONJS. 



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